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Erwin Rommel
Erwin Rommel is a popular general within the German army. History Early life Rommel was born in Southern Germany at Heidenheim, the third of five children of a teacher. As a young man Rommel's father had been a lieutenant in the artillery. Rommel had one older sister, an art teacher who was his favourite sibling, one older brother named Manfred who died in infancy and two younger brothers, of whom one became a successful dentist and the other an opera singer. At age 18 Rommel joined the local 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment as a Fähnrich (ensign), in 1910, studying at the Officer Cadet School in Danzig. He graduated in November 1911 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in January 1912 and was assigned to the 124th Infantry in Weingarten. He was posted to Ulm in March 1914 to the 46th Field Artillery Regiment, XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps, as a battery commander. He returned to the 124th when war was declared. While at Cadet School, Rommel met his future wife, 17-year-old Lucia Mollin, of Polish and Italian descent. The Great War During the Great War, Rommel's first combat experience was on 22 August 1914 as a platoon commander near Verdun, when – catching a French garrison unprepared – Rommel and three men opened fire on them without ordering the rest of his platoon forward. The armies continued to skirmish in open engagements throughout September, as the static trench warfare typical of the Great War was still in the future. For his actions in September 1914 and January 1915, Rommel was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class. Rommel was promoted to Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) and transferred to the newly created Royal Wurttemberg Mountain Battalion of the Alpenkorps in September 1915, as a company commander. In August 1917, his unit was involved in the battle for Mount Cosna, a heavily fortified objective on the border between Hungary and Romania, which they took after two weeks of difficult uphill fighting. The offensive, known as the Battle of Caporetto, began on 24 October 1917. Rommel's battalion, was part of an attempt to take enemy positions. In two and a half days, Rommel and his 150 men captured 81 guns and 9,000 men (including 150 officers), at the loss of six dead and 30 wounded. Rommel achieved this remarkable success by taking advantage of the terrain to outflank the Italian forces, attacking from unexpected directions or behind enemy lines, and taking the initiative to attack when he had orders to the contrary. In one instance, the Italian forces, taken by surprise and believing that their lines had collapsed, surrendered after a brief firefight. In this battle, Rommel helped pioneer infiltration tactics, a new form of maneuver warfare just being adopted by German armies, and later by British and French armies. Acting as advance guard in the capture of Longarone on 9 November, Rommel again decided to attack with a much smaller force. Convinced that they were surrounded by an entire German division, the 1st Italian Infantry Division – 10,000 men – surrendered to Rommel. For this and his actions at Matajur, he received the order of Pour le Mérite. In January 1918, Rommel was promoted to Hauptmann (captain) and assigned to a staff position with XLIV Army Corps, where he served for the remainder of the war. Continued military career By the end of the war in 1919, Rommel had become a popular war hero to the German people. Due to his lack of interest in politics, when Dressler's Valkist party took power in 1933, Rommel continued to focus on his military career and duty to the German people. Adam Dressler attempted to make Erwin Rommel minister of war, but he refused. Personal life Rommel married Lucia in Danzig, November 1916. After the war they had their son Manfred Rommel, in 1928. There are rumours that before the Great War, Rommel had a child with a married woman called Walburga Stemmer, with their child being Gertrud Stemmer. Category:People